Some years ago.
Angela Crabbe stared out the window, still not sure if she remembered how to relax anymore. It had been nearly two months since Howard got drafted and she still winced every time an owl tapped at the glass she was looking through now. Despite her husband's sneering remarks towards the less fortunate, it had turned out that even money, at least as much as he and his family had, wasn't enough to keep a healthy man off the fields forever. Not in a war like this.
Honestly it was a surprise they hadn't sent a draft letter for her yet. Her own original family might've been as noble as the Blacks, but they were a great deal less wealthy, and she'd heard that some of the recent graduates from Hogwarts were getting drafted even if they were of the fairer sex.
She would've felt bad for them if she didn't know what might be waiting for them back home.
Adeline Prewett, her old classmate, had just gotten papers herself. They weren't the same 'report or be reported' notices that the boys had gotten when they all graduated, but they did say she was going to either show up to the DoW or to the potions brewery. Given how those who went to the brewery were looking more and more like they themselves were the ingredients when they came home each day, her old friend had chosen the DoW.
Adeline's husband was already dead, though, so perhaps the only thing stopping Agatha from getting drafted was Howard representing their household.
Something caught her attention outside the window, and her nerves began to rise when she saw it was an owl heading for her. Still, that was why she was sat here: so it couldn't startle her more than it already had. She shoved open the glass pane as it came down, and quickly retrieved the two letters it carried.
The first was the usual daily update. Newspapers had all been suspended, their presses reserved for official Ministry usage, and in their place was a singular, daily foot of parchment detailing various updates in the war. She scanned it over quickly, felt the usual dread as she read about a failed pincer manoeuvre along the Rhine that cost an unrevealed amount of lives, then set it down. The rest of it was just more guilt and patriotism inducing propaganda begging for everyone to do their part.
The second letter had the Ministry's wax seal as well. It was too early to be the usual biweekly payment that Howard earned, which Agatha had been warned not to touch a knut of if she didn't want it taken out of her hide, so she wasn't sure what it could be. Maybe it was finally her turn to get sent to the front lines, or maybe Howard had died in that bit of news about the Rhine…
When she opened it up though, it was a rather plain looking letter.
Agatha Crabbe,
Enclosed is a bill of exchange that entitles you to the sum of ten (10) galleons at Gringotts Bank. It is your due in the wake of the death of Redacted. We are sorry for your loss, and grateful for your sacrifice.
Elizabeth R. L. Crouch
Head of the Department of Mysteries
Agatha frowned. She didn't know anyone in any such department, certainly no one that would've left her a wergild. Howard's probably would've gone to her if he were to get himself killed, at least unless his family managed to claw it away from her, but it certainly wouldn't have been signed off by this Crouch woman. It would've come with the same boilerplate letter all the other widows' had gotten, signed by one of Reginald Bones' secretaries on his behalf.
'Who on earth would send me money?' she thought. 'There's no one that would…'
No, there was one person who might've. Someone who'd never had a friend before she came along. Someone who had loved her more than anyone else in the entire world, and whom she had loved all the more in turn. Someone she'd abandoned, but never been able to forget, despite how often everyone else did.
'It couldn't be…' she thought. 'Could it?'
Hand trembling, Agatha got up from her chair and set the letter down, not wanting to look at it as the awful idea continued to pervade her mind. She grabbed her coat and, without even bothering to check her makeup or hair, apparated to her cousin's home. Still shaking, she rapped her knuckles against her ancestral home's front door.
"Agatha!" a shrill voice called as the door opened. "Oh, what a pleasure!"
Her cousin Hepzibah didn't look like the war was affecting her much, if anything she'd gotten even more plump since the last time Agatha had seen her. The woman offered a wide-faced smile and practically yanked her inside.
"It's good to see you too," Agatha managed. "Cousin, tell me, what is the Department of Mysteries?"
"The what?" Hepzibah croaked. "The Department of Mysteries is… Well, it's not that important, why do you ask?"
Agatha knew she was a terrible liar, but her cousin wasn't very good at spotting a lie either. "One of my girlfriends received a wergild notice from them."
"Oh, poor thing." Her cousin shook her head. "But really, it's just a bunch of oddballs and strangers down there. They do a little bit of everything, everything that no one else wants to deal with."
'Oddballs and strangers.' It was like there was a hand wrapped around her throat, and Howard wasn't even there. 'Oh, Greggy…'
"Aww," Hepzibah crooned. "Are you worried about your own husband now? See, I told you, my father was right to marry you to him. I knew you'd fall in love eventually." Once more Agatha was being pulled forward, and now she couldn't even see thanks to the tears in her eyes. "Come, I'll have my new house elf make us some tea. You wouldn't believe how expensive the darn things are getting these days…"
"Please, Mrs. Herschel?" Hydrus repeated. "You'd really be doing me a favour."
He was at the diner that apparently belonged to Fate's chosen and said chosen's wife, who was currently huffing at him. Today was the day he had to return to Hogwarts and this was one of the last things that he needed to take care of before then. Foggy, Dobby's third cousin twice removed, sat beside him at the diner's counter and was sipping on a milkshake just like his relative had been a little over a week ago.
"We just don't need a house elf, dear," Mrs. Herschel said, sighing as he continued to wear her down. "We're doing just fine."
"You're doing fine now," Hydrus argued. "What about come winter when 'Old Howard' comes knocking again?"
Foggy was the last of the house elves he had to find homes for, and one who he thought was a good match for the old couple. He was around Kreacher's age, had a bit of a limp that had warded off potential buyers during his time at Briarfir's, and possessed a rather mopey disposition. It was hard to imagine anyone that could manage to cheer up the house elf besides the sweet Mrs. Herschel.
Plus, he'd really wanted to see the couple now that he knew what he knew.
"Oh, don't mention Ol' Howard." The old woman shook her head. "It's bad luck. We'll be fine."
"Foggy told Master Hydrus," the house elf said. He gave a loud, bubbling, slurping sip of his milkshake as his ears drooped down even lower. "Theys is not wanting Foggy. Foggy is bad elf, with bad leg."
Mrs. Herschel's eyes pulled open wide. "Oh, no no no no, dear!" The old woman shuffled around the counter and practically pulled Foggy off of his barstool as she hugged him. "Nooo, that's not it at all, I promise. We…" She let out a frustrated, whining hum. "Oh fine! We'll take him."
Hydrus grinned. "Thank you, Mrs. Herschel. I promise you'll fall in love with him."
It was time yet again to experience what had become a much more uncomfortable experience since his brush with apotheosis. As he spoke the words to transfer ownership of Foggy to the elderly woman, he felt his inner self change. He imagined his soul like an onion that was having the outermost, unconnected layer of skin crinkled off of it. That layer was then crumpled and crumbled away, and blown out into the air, onto and into Mrs. Herschel's own soul. Through her the connection to their new house elf would eventually flow to Gregory as well.
"By the way," he said, finally free to broach the subject that had been on his mind ever since Fate showed up on his doorstep. "Could you tell me, specifically, why it is that everyone knows your husband?"
"Oh, well, he's done pretty much everything there is to do!" Mrs. Herschel said, finally moving back to 'her' side of the counter. "I can't talk about too much of it, top secret assignments during the war and what not, but after he switched departments—"
"What department was he originally in?" Hydrus asked. "DoM?"
The elderly woman blinked at him. "Why, yes, as a matter of fact he was. That's why I can't tell you anything."
"Of course, of course." Hydrus nodded. "But if you can't tell me, others wouldn't know about it either, so what about after that?"
It wasn't a surprise to hear that Fate's chosen was involved with the DoM. From what he'd pieced together over time, anyone and everyone with a lick of divination talent owed some favour to the deity. Gregory was her chosen, her followers practised divination, the DoM handled prophecies; it lined up.
"Well, after…" She bobbed her head back and forth. "After something I can't tell you about, happened, he was moved into more of a leadership role. The IWC granted him the title of Grand Sorcerer."
"Really?" Hydrus said. "Dumbledore's got the job now, doesn't he?"
"Oh, yes, yes," Mrs. Herschel said. "After what happened between Albus and Gellert, my Greggy told him: 'Albus, I have much better things to do, and I won't take no for an answer!'." She had given her husband, who Hydrus had never actually heard speak before, a rather regal accent. "After that he came back to live with me and we've been running our little slice of paradise here ever since."
"Okay," Hydrus said. "But what specifically happened between him switching departments and him retiring that made him so—"
The door to the diner opened. Hydrus spun around, wand falling into his hand, and he glanced down at the door handle he knew with utmost certainty he had locked. The man who stepped into the restaurant shut the door, re-locked it, and turned to face them.
He wasn't a particularly tall man, probably around Hydrus's own juvenile height, but he had a long beard that draped down to just past his waist. It was thick and dark with only a few wisps of grey belying the old age that the man's wizened, hazel-grey eyes made much more clear. He was wearing thick, woollen robes that were bound with an odd sash, and he walked forward carrying a staff nearly a foot taller than he himself was. The staff was topped with a crude amalgamation of a snake, a massive purple gemstone locked in its extended jaws. The instrument gave off the same feeling his own staff had when he'd split open the elk in order to—
Hydrus shook his head. Fucking druid.
"And who might you be?" he asked, holding up a hand to stave off Mrs. Herschel's own question. "We're closed."
"It's a pleasure to meet you." The man had an odd accent, one Hydrus had never heard before, and he moved his staff to his left hand to offer his right. "I am your oldest living ancestor, child."
"You don't look a day over fifty," Hydrus chirped back, shaking the stranger's hand but not letting it go. "I asked who you are."
Hydrus's grip collapsed into an empty fist as somehow the man pulled his hand through his own. "Come now, Hydrus, I believe you're familiar with my work? You were once such a re-creation, the beast around your neck is another?"
Apophis came into sight, feathers raised high and tall. "Grandfather Herpo."
Hydrus took a breath. Herpo the Foul. A man who could most likely claim to be the ancestor of Salazar Slytherin himself. The inventor of magical portraits, basilisks, horcruxes, and more.
"Indeed, little one," the archaic and supposedly dead wizard said. "It's good to see you again."
"Thought you'd bitten the dust," Hydrus said. "A wise man told me that you'd created the first basilisk to put an end to your immortality."
"Oh I did," Herpo confirmed. "But, as your presence has demanded, I have been called to arms once more by my master."
Son of a bitch. Hydrus's grip on his wand tightened. He'd told Remus and the others that the gods wouldn't be able to pull upper echelon fighters out of thin air, but it appeared he was wrong about that too. How the fuck was he gonna pull this one off?
"Mrs. Herschel," he said. "Why don't you go in the back while I take care of this."
"What's going on?" she demanded. "Hydrus, who is this man?"
"Why, dear woman!" Herpo called like some pompous thespian. "I am none other than Hydrus's own grandfather, what a pleasure it is, to meet a beauty such as yourself."
Mrs. Herschel opened her mouth, a displeased quirk to her brow as she began to speak, but she was cut off by a door opening behind her. Slowly, with creaking wheels and a weak aura of magic as he pushed his chair forward, came Gregory Herschel. The geriatric and trembling wizard rolled past his wife and around the counter until he was passing by Herpo, then turned himself around to line up with Hydrus.
"Mr. Herschel," Hydrus said. "You and I have a lot to talk about, but for now I'm dealing with something. You should probably—"
"Get…" Gregory started, needing to wheeze in more air after just that one word. "Out."
"Well, well, well." Herpo grinned. "What a triumvirate we three make. I, Death's chosen, facing off against the chosen of Fate, and the former chosen of Magic." His grin turned mocking as he focused his attention on Hydrus. "I wondered why I found you in this shabby dum—"
Then the man vanished with the sound of a snap. Hydrus blinked. He looked around and found Mrs. Herschel just as confused as he was, and her husband's head cocked to one side.
"Is not a dump." Hydrus turned and saw Foggy setting his now-empty milkshake glass on the counter. "Is Foggy's home."
"Well done!" Mrs. Herschel said. "Here, dear, let me get you another."
As Foggy and his new matriarch began to argue over whether or not he deserved a second milkshake, Hydrus focused on Gregory. The man was shaking in his chair, ever so slightly nodding in that way old people did when they were that ancient, and he at least had to give him credit for one thing. The former Grand Sorcerer was no coward.
"Gregory," he said. "We need to talk."
The man grumbled for a moment. "No."
Hydrus reeled back as the man wheeled himself away. "What do you mean 'no'? Where are you going?"
Gregory ignored him and continued to leave. Hydrus watched as he went. He only paused to tell his wife something that sounded suspiciously like 'don't tell him anything' before he'd rolled back to the more familial side of the diner's building.
"Mrs. Herschel—"
"Sorry, dear," the elderly woman said. "Greggy says not to tell you anything."
"But I need to know things," he argued. "Mrs. Herschel, that man—"
"Hydrus, if Greggy thinks it's best not to tell you anything, that means it probably is." She clapped a tall, whipped cream and cherry topped glass of chocolatey goodness down in front of Foggy. "He knows things."
"Right, well, I 'know things' too." He grabbed hold of Apophis to stop his familiar from trying to steal a bite of Foggy's milkshake. "And I happen to know that there are literal gods who's vendetta is bringing the dead back to life and assassin's to my future sister-in-law's doorstep."
"Don't worry, dear," the old woman said. "Greggy will take care of it."
'God damn it.' Hydrus tossed the payment for his meal on the counter, pulled the galleons Gregory had somehow slipped into his boot back out and slapped them down beside the rest of the money, and stormed out of the diner. 'I hate old people!'
He began to make his way towards Hogwarts. The train probably wouldn't arrive for another three hours or so, but he didn't particularly care. What were they going to do, give him another year of detention for showing up early? Hogsmeade was rather quiet for once. Everyone was probably getting ready for that first weekend away from school students would 'soon' be getting, and it didn't take him long to get out of the village and on the trail to the school.
Amusingly, he could still see the hoofprints of what had to have been a large, mildly weighed down, centaur cemented in the dirt. That was going to be the very last thing he did before he officially returned to Hogwarts, take the chance before students showed up to meet with the centaurs and—
"Well, well, well!"
Hydrus turned around. Standing behind him, dripping wet and looking much less dignified now, was Herpo the Foul. The archaic wizard was clinging to his staff and shivering, but doing a fair enough job of trying to look like he hadn't just gotten dropped in the middle of whatever ocean Foggy had sent him to.
"Hydrus, my dear boy, I believe we may have gotten off on—"
"Shut the fuck up," the one-time war leader said with a sigh as he shook his head. "Listen, just cut to the chase. No monologuing, no metaphors, no bullshit. Just tell me what you want." He held up his hand. "No, actually, tell me what Death wants."
Herpo scowled at him. "A life for a life. Death wishes to take from you what you have taken from him. You have revoked your father's service, but Death will have his pound of flesh."
Channeling every bit of his Potter-side grandmother, Hydrus said, "The fuck he will."
He carved his wand through the air like it was a sword through flesh, but Herpo held up his staff and the spell that would've ripped him in half faded away. Whirling the stump of his other arm to the side, Hydrus sent his opponent flying closer towards Hogwarts and away from the village.
As soon as the ancient wizard landed, Herpo hissed out a spell in Parseltongue that sent an effervescent serpant the size of the Knight Bus barreling towards Hydrus. The younger man straightened up.
"No."
And with his intent and visualisation in place, the not-quite-a-spell countered the attack and allowed it to harmlessly crest through and around him like a misty breeze. Herpo stood taller now as well, the rush of battle banishing away the chill of damp, and was sneering at him. The man lifted his staff into the air, but Hydrus was faster.
"Caro Torquentia!"
The bolt of yellow magic shot towards Herpo. The man lifted his staff higher to deflect it, but just as Hydrus and Remus had designed, the spell wrapped around the basic shield and kept going. It plunged into the man and began to spiralize his flesh, ripping skin apart and almost certainly killing him. After the spell had allowed Bellatrix to live for longer than he would've liked in the past, Harry and Remus had fine tuned it even further. It no longer just spun around whatever unfortunate target it was aimed at. Now, in its final form, it would bore deeper and deeper into them until the spell collapsed in on itself entirely.
"Rot, you fuck," Harry said. "Rot and … Ah, shit."
Herpo had begun to collapse as the spell dug deeper inside him, but as it got past the initial layers of his body, the first wounds were closing over. Slowly but surely he rose back up from bent knees and quivering hips until he was standing properly.
"Sorry, dear boy," Herpo said through a mouth full of blood and bile that he spat up after speaking. "But do you really think that Death is going to just whisk me away after working so hard to—"
"Hurricane."
Herpo was shot through the air like a bullet. There had been the faintest hint of bones cracking as he went, but the rushing of winds drowned out almost everything else. Hydrus strode after where he'd sent his foe, not in the least deterred by the apparent immortality.
Immortality was, in fact, a specialty of his in dealing with.
"I don't know what Death told you," Harry said as he walked down the writhing half-corpse that had splattered against the ground just outside of the Forbidden Forest. "But you should know, my would-be 'grandfather', that you are out of your god-damned league.
"I am Harry fucking Potter!" he roared, his magic doing what it did best and eroding the man's very being despite Death trying to keep him alive. "I am the Boy Who Lived! I am the heir to Albus Dumbledore! I am the most powerful, most deadly, man to ever live!"
He crouched down on the rapidly growing pile of rotted flesh that was trying and failing to reform itself.
"So, when you get back to him, temporarily or otherwise, tell your 'master' this." Harry glanced up at the sky. "You will get nothing from me. I have lost too much, too often, too deep, to give you even a drop of what I have left."
The rotting pile of flesh continued to diminish. He continued to allow the Black madness to flow through him and drain his being as it erased everything around him. As he watched the particles disappear, it reminded him of the spell Bella had yet to allow him to name, and the working came to be. It started to devour everything around him. Ground and grass alike vanished away, and what little remained of Herpo's new body was gone before too long as well.
Harry sank deeper as the madness consumed him and the world surrounding him alike. The walls around him grew taller and further away as the magic devoured everything. As he continued to stare at the spot Herpo had once been, a voice called out.
"Hydrus!" He looked up. "Stop this at once!"
It was Dumbledore. He was supposed to listen to Dumbledore.
With a heaving breath Harry called off his spellwork and allowed everything to finally settle around him. His palm and fingers were hurting from how tightly he was gripping his wand, but he didn't let up as he waited for his supposed ancestor to somehow return. If the man did revive, he'd throw him in the Great Lake and freeze him over in a block of ice the size of a dragon. From there he'd transport the block of ice to a safe location where he'd hire the best runesmiths in the world, including Giannis, to keep the block frozen forever. He'd be fine. Everyone would be fine. Everything was fine. He was Harry 'fucking' Potter, he was strong, he was the strongest, he was fine, everything was—
"Hydrus."
He looked over. A set of stairs had grown from the edge of the pit he'd somehow dug and Dumbledore was standing beside him now. The ancient warlock rested his hands on either of his shoulders.
"Hydrus, are you alright?" Dumbledore asked. "What happened?"
Harry took a deep breath, and settled himself back down. Sirius had been right, their family madness really did become more pervasive the more you let it in. After a few more calming breaths, Hydrus spoke.
"I'm fine," he said. "Just dealing with Death's chosen. The bastard is pulling heavy hitters off the bench."
"What?" his teacher asked. "Who did he send?"
"Herpo the Foul." He ran his hand through his hair. "He 'ambushed' me while I was meeting with the Herschels, and followed me this far into the school."
"Herpo…" Dumbledore muttered. "Then it would seem—"
"That I was wrong," Hydrus said. "Hopefully he can only pull one titan at a time, or else we might actually struggle."
"That is in fact the rule."
Hydrus whirled around. Standing on the edge of the massive pit he'd dug was the man he'd just finished disintegrating. Herpo began to descend into the pit like he was riding an invisible escalator as Dumbledore stepped up beside Hydrus. If the ancient inventor was any worse the wear for his time spent as a pile of gunk, it certainly wasn't showing as he finished closing the gap between them with a smug smile on his face.
"Just as Fate's chosen can alter the timeline without consequence, so too can Death's cross the boundary between worlds," Herpo said. "So until such a time as Death chooses another, I'm afraid you'll find that I, and I alone, will be hunting you."
"The fuck was I doing worshipping Magic," Hydrus muttered, suddenly feeling like he'd drawn the shortest of all the 'Chosen' straws. "Alright then. Round two it is."
"Ah, ah, ah," Herpo held up an index finger. "Let us parley, my dear boy, before you exhaust yourself further."
Before Hydrus could show the archaic man just how far from 'exhausted' he was, Dumbledore placed a hand on his shoulder. "What exactly would you like to discuss?"
Herpo narrowed his eyes at the other greybeard. "And who might you be?"
"A friend, and an advisor, to young Hydrus," Dumbledore said. "And a man who is very, very disappointed to meet you."
"Please." The legend tilted his chin up and sneered at him. "As though I would care about the disappointment of a mewling child."
"Were you truly deserving of your wisdom," the headmaster said. "Then you would know there is no greater shame to bear than that of failing to meet the expectations of those who looked up to you."
Hydrus rolled his eyes at the verbal, old-man slap fight going on in front of him.
"May I eat him, Father?" Apophis hissed.
"You wouldn't find it so easy, child," Herpo hissed back. "And there we have the crux of our negotiations."
Apophis came back to visibility, and Hydrus could feel his familiar's annoyance at being 'overheard' by the other parseltongue, unused to others being able to understand him. The basilisk's hackles were still raised like back at the bar, so much so that there was a drop of venom dangling precariously from his lip.
"As I previously informed you, Death will have his pound of flesh," Herpo said. "He would prefer it to be a swift and sudden taking, a loss that will hurt you both in its essence and its precipitousness. I, on the other hand, would rather get something out of it for myself."
"Oh yeah?" Hydrus droned, playing along for the sake of appeasing Dumbledore who was still holding onto his shoulder. "And just what did you have in mind?"
"I rather enjoyed the time I spent with young Apophis," Herpo said. "I shall take him to serve me in the next life."
Hydrus flinched as his arm all but erupted in pain. He took a deep breath and faced his familiar. "Apophis? Eat him."
He wasn't sure what he expected to happen. Obviously the little serpent couldn't wrap its mouth around the ancient wizard, but he had offered, so it sounded appropriately threatening in his mind. What he definitely didn't expect was for a massive, glimmering, mostly-translucent version of the basilisk's head to lunge forward and engulf Herpo. The other wizard clearly hadn't either, he hadn't even flinched until the avatar's mouth had engulfed him. Like a retracting spring the basilisk head shot back towards them, and Herpo dropped to the ground.
"Merlin's beard…" Dumbledore breathed. The apparent corpse began to turn to sand. "What happened?"
"What did you see?" Hydrus asked, getting the feeling that…
"Nothing." His former master turned to him and Apophis. "You told Apophis to 'eat him', and then he just dropped."
"His soul belongs to me now," Apophis hissed. "Just like Grandfather Salazar's."
When the hell had he 'eaten' the other ancient parselmouth?
"Might need you to Fawkes-ferry me to Hogwarts in a second," Hydrus said. "There's something I need to check."
He unwrapped Apophis from around his neck, and pulled him up so that he was looking the basilisk in his shielded eyes. He felt for the bond between them, and once he was 'latched' onto it, he looked at it. After a moment there appeared a chain-like strand of energy attaching itself to the two of them. He followed its path away from himself until it got to Apophis, and then he truly saw the basilisk for the second time.
Just like their experience with the gods, Apophis looked like a glowing extension of his own pool of magic. Unlike back then though, he wasn't just a vague, noodle-like snake shape. He was much more distinctly a reflection of his outer body, including the crown of feathers on top of his head. As Hydrus looked closer, though, he saw that the basilisk hadn't been lying. Somehow he could also see Salazar Slytherin and Herpo the Foul inside his familiar, just like he'd seen a near-endless amount of souls living within and making up the true form of Fate.
He clenched his eyes shut as that memory began to burn them away. It was dumbfounding how reality-warping the goddess's true form was that it could hurt him just to vaguely recall it in reflection of his own familiar's changes.
"Hydrus?" Dumbledore's voice said. "Are you alright?"
"I will be." Apophis was winding himself back around his shoulders as Hydrus wished he had two hands to rub his eyes with. "And I think Apophis just took care of our dead guy problem. At the very least, Death might hesitate before sending another one."
"Why is that?"
"Let's walk and talk."
With Dumbledore helping to guide him as he continued to try and recover from the damage he'd done to his eyes, he explained what Apophis had said and what he himself had seen. The headmaster was leading them to his office and they weren't quite there yet when Hydrus finished.
"I see," the ancient warlock said. "I see…"
"Your sight is growing stronger, Father," Apophis said. "It probably won't hurt as much next time."
'Just what I need,' Hydrus thought as they finally got to the office. 'A reptilian life coach whose ego is so big it extends to trying to make me a god.'
Fawkes flew over to him and landed on Apophis. The basilisk let out an indignant hiss, but didn't buck the phoenix off. Hydrus winced as the bird began to shove its beak into the gap between his hand and eyes, but eventually he gave in and allowed the headmaster's familiar to nuzzle him. It both tickled and irritated the injured organs, but before too long the phoenix had done a much swifter job of healing him than he himself could have.
"Thanks, Fawkes," he said, blinking away the remaining 'tickling' sensation the phoenix had left behind. "I've still got a ways to go before I catch up to you, huh?"
The bird gave a pleased trill and flew back to his perch as Dumbledore chuckled.
"You're too modest," the headmaster said. "You may very well be the most talented wizard in the entire world with such magics given how reliant on potions the rest of the world has become for healing."
"Please, there's probably some shaman or priestess somewhere with twice my skill," Hydrus dismissed. "Quinn and Flamel aren't the only hyper-talented hermits hiding from the world, trust me."
He and his forces had come across a few such people during the war, but rarely were they ever interested in helping. Their dedication to whatever magic they specialised in didn't allow for them to help out in something as unimportant as a world-ending war against an immortal tyrant. Hell, more often than not they wound up coming to blows as Hydrus refused to accept their refusal.
"I must be honest, Hydrus," Dumbeldore said. "I know you just had a breakdown, and you've told me that those can lead to you being more calm afterwards than before, but you still seem rather… Relaxed, about what just happened."
"You know what makes me nervous, Albus?" Hydrus asked. "The OWLs we got coming up at the end of the year. I won't be repeating the course material this time, so I'm actually going to have to work if I don't want to embarrass myself in potions or astrology. That's the sort of thing that can stop me from relaxing."
The ancient warlock cocked an eyebrow at him. "As opposed to killing masters of magic who can lay waste to entire cities all on their own if they so choose? That's just another day in the doldrums for you?"
"Yes, actually." Hydrus looked out the headmaster's window at the rapidly setting sun. "If I got strung out every time I went wand to wand against a dark lord I'd've died of a heart attack long before I ever got myself into this mess in the first place."
Voldemort was his most frequent opponent. He might've only 'killed' the bastard a handful of times, but if a battle between their forces was happening, they both had to be there. If either of the two didn't show up, after all, then the other could one-sidedly slaughter the other side without resistance. It was what made ambushes and hit-and-run tactics the go-to for the war.
Beyond the most vile monster of them all, though, were the sorts of sorcerers and covens that Hydrus had tried to force into service. Sometimes it worked, often times it didn't, and almost every single time it came to blows.
"Like I said," Hydrus continued, finally breaking the silence Dumbledore had allowed to reign. "I've dealt with more than my fair share of heavy hitters."
"Tell me, have you done much research into other, as you put it, 'heavy hitters' from your timeline?" Dumbledore asked. "Where they are now?"
"I've already caught up with almost everyone from my side," Hydrus muttered. "You and the rest of the Hogwarts staff, Remus, Sirius, Fleur, Tonks, and so on. The rest of them are either too young to matter, or impossible to track. Most of the neutral parties fall into that last category as well."
"And from the other side?"
"Only a few are missing there," Hydrus said. "Bella is the only one who's really still a heavy hitter. The Malfoys are weak, the Lestranges are weak. I guess Fenrir is still pretty tough, but only by the average standard."
Dumbledore nodded. "Go on."
"Still can't find Crouch Jr," he said. "Far as the records go he dropped off the face of the earth as soon as he turned seventeen, and no one I've spoken to even recognises the name beyond being his father's."
"Ah, I can actually explain that one," Dumbledore said. "I am a touch surprised you didn't recognize him, you've met."
Hydrus frowned. "We have?"
"When you went to visit Minister Shacklebolt," the ancient warlock answered. "The man you know as 'Bartemius Crouch Junior' changed his name quite some time ago, less than a year after he reached the age of majority, and became a hitwizard."
Hydrus tried to recall anyone who looked like the former death eater when he'd visited the Ministry, but the only two people he really remembered meeting were the Minister himself and Orion Black. Who else had been…
"You might not have recognised him thanks to all the scars," Dumbledore said, interrupting his thoughts and immediately bringing to mind who it must have been. "Poor man didn't earn his forced retirement the easy way."
Hydrus's jaw dropped. "Wait, that secretary with the fucked up face is Crouch Jr? I thought it was just some friend of Shacklebolt's."
"I wouldn't go so far as to say they are friends, it is and was more like they were useful to each other." The ancient warlock shook his head. "Shacklebolt and Crouch were political rivals, both aiming for similar positions in the government, and since the latter's son despised his father he became a useful tool for the former.
"As a hitwizard he was the only man on the force who ever gave your father a run for his money, even more so than James," he continued. "He worked alone rather than in a squad, and almost entirely focused on hunting down violent criminals. He was protected and promoted by Shacklebolt, and gave credit to the man for his arrests and kills in turn, until he was forced behind a desk."
"What happened to him?" Hydrus asked.
"He was nearly done in by a band of smugglers, the Clock Turn gang I believe their name was." Dumbledore shook his head. "He was being held hostage but your father saved his life and did the job he failed at."
"I'm guessing," Hydrus started, thinking back to Sirius's arrest. "That there's not much love lost between them?"
"I'm afraid not," the ancient warlock confirmed.
"What's his new name?"
"He chose to honour the man who trained him and spit in his father's face even further," Dumbledore said. "And now goes by Alastor Shacklebolt."
"Guess I'll have to keep an ear out for him too, then," Hydrus said with a sigh. "You got a 'Antonin Dolohov' running around?"
Dumbledore frowned. "No? I know of a Darius Dolohov, I believe he's a real estate investor, but as far as I'm aware he is unmarried and without children."
"Yeah, that's what I read as well," Hydrus agreed. "Crouch was the only Death Eater missing that wasn't always missing, so I started with him. I'm fairly certain the rest just had their mother or father shack up with someone else this go around."
"What about on our side?" Dumbledore asked, his curiosity sounding more natural born than purpose driven. "Is there anyone you've noticed missing?"
"No one we need," Hydrus said with a shrug. "Figg, Fletcher, Diggle. A squib, a thief, and an eccentric."
"Well," the ancient warlock started. "We could always use more eccentrics if you ask me."
Hydrus snorted. "Right. I should probably get going so I can grab my stuff. I'd send Kreacher, but Bella might actually kidnap me if I didn't say goodbye in person."
He'd just have to put off meeting with the centaurs and anything else he'd forgotten to do with the remainder of his summer break till later.
Dumbledore gave a hearty laugh at that. "She very well might. Give her my best."
"You know I won't," Hydrus said as he headed for the floo. "And you know damn well why."
Draco stepped out of the Hogwarts Express and took just a few steps before freezing. There were… Things attached to the carriages that were supposed to take them the rest of the way to school. They looked like oversized, reptilian horses with bat-like wings flexing and stretching behind them. He was only able to stare for a moment longer before someone pushed past him.
"What are you doing?" Daphne demanded. "You're in the way."
"Uh…" He looked at her, and saw her looking at him like he was the crazy one. "Are you not seeing those dragon-horses?"
"You mean the thestrals?" Blaise asked, stepping up beside Draco. "I can't see them, but everyone knows they're there." The Zabini heir's next word hung in his mouth for a second and he shook his head. "Wait, how can you see them?"
"What do you mean everyone knows they're there?" Draco demanded. "And why can't you see them?"
Much more concerned than Draco was these days with not sticking out, Blaise and Daphne began to practically drag him to the nearest carriage. The girl was talking as they went. "We mean you need to pay more attention in Creatures class, and the reason we can't see them is because we've never seen someone die before. That's the only way you can be able to see them."
A cold wash of sadness rolled over Draco as the memory of Doppsy, who's great-grand niece was currently being babysat by Hagrid, dying returned to him again. He'd dreamed about it several times now, each one more vivid than the last.
"So again," Blaise said as they stopped outside a carriage and near the 'thestrals', now out of the way of others. "Why can you see them?"
"Just… Just from doing something for Hydrus." He ignored his friends' stunned expressions and moved towards the beasts that he'd never known were there. "How is it that only people who have seen someone die can see them?"
"Because they're creatures of death." He jumped at the sudden arm looping around his and the girl's voice appearing beside him. "You can see them too?"
Draco glanced down at Luna, who was looking back up at him, and tried to ignore the way his face was steadily beginning to heat up. "Oh, uh, hey, Luna…" He licked his lips and swallowed. "And yeah, I guess I can now."
"I'm sorry." His eyes widened as he was once again reminded how much more gentle and sweet the beautiful girl was compared to him or just about anyone he knew. "Are you okay?"
"Uh—" He cleared his throat. "Y-, Yeah, yeah I'm good. Thank you. Are… Are you, uh, good? Since, you know, you can see them?"
His girlfriend gave him a dreamy smile. "Of course, silly. I've always been able to see them. My mother died some time ago."
"Right, right, shit, sorry, I should've—"
"Oi! Lover boy!" Draco craned his neck around to see Blaise calling to him from the carriage. "Get in before we leave you panicking and trying to figure out how to carry your 'female companion' across the Great Lake!"
"It's girlfriend, actually!" Luna called back before beginning to pull on his arm. "Come on."
He allowed her to guide him into the carriage, still blushing and feeling all too pleased with how confidently she'd called herself his girlfriend. Pretty soon they were settled on one side of the carriage with Blaise sitting across from him and Daphne across from Luna.
"Where're your golems, by the way?" Daphne asked. "I'm pretty sure we didn't see them all summer, either."
"No clue," Draco answered as the carriage began to take off. "Knowing Hydrus, he probably gave them some job."
"Something that kept them busy all summer?" Blaise asked. "All he had me do was butter him and his family up to my mother. Apparently they're trying to work something out."
"Your mother?" Daphne repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Not your father?"
Blaise held up his hands in a shrug.
"He wrote me and asked me to write a letter to little Dahlia," Daphne said. "Said he wants her to feel like she has more friends than she realises."
"What about you, Draco?" Blaise asked. "What'd Hydrus put on your plate that's got you seeing thestrals?"
The Malfoy heir narrowed his eyes as he realised why his friends had started and carried on that conversation. "Ask Hydrus if you want to know so bad."
Vultures.
"Spoil sport." Daphne folded her arms over her chest and tossed her hair over shoulder. "You're no fun."
Draco made to respond, but instead his head was swung to the side and slammed into the carriage wall.
The whole vehicle had nearly flipped on its side and for once he wasn't enjoying the way Luna was pressed against him, especially the way her skull was digging into his jaw. Blaise and Daphne were in a similar position, but where Draco was just seeing stars, the Zabini heir had gone limp and a trail of blood was already starting at the end of his hairline. The carriage straightened up and nearly flipped them over in the other direction, but he caught Luna and kept them up.
"Grab Blaise!" he shouted at Daphne. The girl had managed to put up an arm to brace herself against her side of the carriage in time, but Blaise had fallen onto her and it made Draco wince to see the way the boy's head had lolled over. "Hold him still!"
The carriage was rocking back and forth and up and down. He pulled Luna in even closer and slid them over towards his wall, then stuck out his leg so he could prop them against it without needing to let go of his girlfriend. Daphne watched what he was doing and more or less mirrored his movements, though did so much more awkwardly thanks to the other teen being dead weight compared to Luna who was reciprocating Draco's grip.
Then they were all thrown into the air as the cart bounced against what Draco could only hope was the ground. He yelped in pain as his tailbone smacked against the only mildly-cushioned seat. After a few more, less-gravity-removing bumps, it seemed like they settled.
"Daphne, look after these two." Draco stood and threw open the door. "I'm going to see what happened."
When he stepped out, he found their carriage wasn't the only one who'd apparently had a hard landing. The one closest to them had even lost one of its wheels and was tilting at an odd angle. Before he could turn and look around some more, the door to the three-wheeled vehicle slammed open.
"Look out!"
Draco winced and half-raised an arm to shield himself just in case as Harry Potter stumbled out and immediately began to puke. The Potter heir was doubled over with his hands on his knees as what was definitely too many trolly sweets came pouring out of him.
"You alright, Potter?" Draco asked, not sure what to say in a situation like this. "Do you need—"
"Fine." Potter waved him off and slowly straightened up, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "Just… Just motion sickness. Aw, shit. Phew!"
"What on earth happened?" Draco asked. A few more students we're beginning to get out of their carriages and the thestrals were all nudging towards something he couldn't see in the crowd. "Why'd they bring us here?"
"Something must be wrong with whatever the hell makes these things fly," Potter said. "I don't know."
'Aha, I knew I wasn't the only one who didn't know,' Draco thought. "I'm gonna go see what's brought them all down here."
It wasn't hard to figure out he wasn't going to be able to squeeze between the carts that were all but breaking against one another with how tight they were pressed thanks to the thestrals crowding around something. After taking a second to judge the height, he began to climb up his own carriage. He let out a heaving groan as he tried to pull himself up onto the roof, then barely kept in a yelp as someone grabbed the soles of his feet and shoved him the rest of the way up in one motion.
"Coming up behind you!" Potter called.
"Bastard…" Draco grumbled as he stepped away from the edge and fixed his robes. "Hurry up!"
He turned to where all the thestrals were moving, and froze.
"Tell me to hurry up, I'm the one who…" His rival had stepped up beside him and was now staring at the same thing he was. "What the hell happened?"
It turned out they'd landed right beside the Forbidden Forest, and although Draco didn't know what Potter was seeing, he was witnessing the oddest spectacle ever. There was a massive pit in the earth, large enough to fit a decently sized home for a commoner. There was a set of earthen stairs leading down to the bottom, and the reptilian horses were gathering around the hole's edge like it was a lake to drink from. In fact, as he squinted and looked closer, it even looked like they were sipping the air from the pit.
"What are they doing…" Draco muttered.
"They who?" Potter demanded. "What are you seeing that I'm not?"
"Thestrals," he said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "They're what pull the carriages. It looks like they're drinking from the pit."
"The hell is a thestral?"
Before Draco could continue to lord his recently acquired knowledge over the other teen, a loud Clap! rang out. His neck snapped up just in time to witness what must've been half the teachers in Hogwarts pulling into a stop above them on brooms. Most comedic of them all was Albus Dumbledore himself, who looked as out of place on a broom as Draco probably would've riding one of the thestrals.
"Everyone!" the headmaster called. "Remain calm! Please make your ways out of the carriages, assist those who need assistance, and we'll lead you all to Hogwarts!"
"They better have a good explanation for this," Draco grumbled. "Come on, Potter. Help me get Blaise out of the carriage, he got knocked out."
"Only if you help me with Ron.
Hydrus stretched and groaned out a pleased sound as he finished with the last of his injured classmates. "You alright there, Weasley?"
"Yeah, yeah," Ron said, rubbing his previously broken toe. "Can't believe Hermione's bloody trunk attacked me."
"Right," Hydrus laughed. "Vicious bit of luggage, was it?"
"Shut up." The redhead got off the Hospital Wing cot and tentatively shifted his weight back and forth. "Guess you really did fix it."
"Of course I did," Hydrus said. "Now get to the feast."
He followed his former friend halfway through the wing before stopping at the self-cleaning water bowl Pomfrey had set up for him so he could wash his hands for what felt like the thousandth time that night. As he scrubbed away to make sure anything that had been on Ron's foot wasn't going to be in his dinner next, the mediwitch stepped up beside him.
"Everyone should be settled for the night," she said. "I know you're especially close with Mr. Zabini, so be sure to tell him to be good for me."
Hydrus snorted. "Right."
The division of labour as the duo had worked to take care of everyone had been a familiar one for him, though he'd usually been in Pomfrey's shoes back in the war. After an initial triage to make sure no one was on Death's door, he got to work healing the more severe injuries while Pomfrey began handing out the various elixirs and potions people needed. Blaise had been the first patient he worked on; the boy had a severe concussion and all the time traveller could really do was reduce the swelling of his brain.
Anything more intricate would require a level of risk that they just didn't need to take.
Once he and the other concussion-sufferers, none of whom were as bad as his fellow Slytherin fifth-year, were looked after, he'd moved on to severe, open wounds. There was just the one, thankfully, and of course it was poor Neville. The boy had been delivered to Platform 9 ¾ by Perenelle Flamel herself after getting away from a summer of intense and violent training followed by experimental and almost nonsensical mentorship mostly scot-free, only to split his cheek to the bone when his head slammed against a sharp corner in his carriage.
If the teen hadn't already applied a poultice of his own devising to the wound to stop the bleeding, he probably would've beaten Blaise on the priority list.
Last and most common were the little things. By the time Hydrus had gotten to these Pomfrey had gotten the unnecessary whiners out of the Hospital Wing, and the injuries ranged from swollen black eyes to chipped teeth to broken toes. The school's mediwitch almost took on a nostalgic, advisory role as Hydrus made his way through them all, reminding him between each stop to wash his hands or to be nicer to the particularly noisome complainers.
"Hey, Blaise," Hydrus said as he got to his companion's bed. "How you holding up?"
"I'm fine," the Zabini heir snapped. "I shouldn't have to stay here."
"You bang your brain, you win a sleepover," he replied. "Cus if you think I'm waking up to save you if you have a seizure in the middle of the night, that I would do anything to stop you from convulsing and drowning in your own vomit until you die a slow, torturous, humiliating death, you got another thing coming."
Blaise shivered then settled deeper into his cot. "Whatever."
Hydrus grinned. "See ya, mate."
He whistled a tune as he made his way to the Great Hall. After finally managing to pry himself away from Bellatrix and return to Hogwarts, he and Dumbledore had been discussing what his plans for the Study Club were like for this year when McGonagall came shouting that something had gone wrong with the carriages. The only thing that saved him from being too chagrined at the knowledge that he'd accidentally been the cause of sending the thestrals into a frenzy was that Dumbledore was just as relieved as he was. They'd both thought it had been another attack at first.
When he got to the Great Hall, it only took a few seconds for people to recognize he wasn't the latest recovering patient to arrive, and he rolled his eyes when the Slytherin table cheered. A few more hoops and hollers came from the others, but it all died down when he waved off his housemates. There was a new table set up just below the teachers' raised seating, and it seemed like the first years' sorting had been delayed until after the meal just like last year. He took his usual spot beside Draco and immediately began to fix himself a plate.
"Not even a day into the school year and you lot are already putting me to work," Hydrus said. "Next time I'm just gonna let the inferi eat you all and be done with it."
Draco laughed and clapped him on the back, and the conversation quickly began. Luckily the teens remembered that he wasn't one for many words when he was eating, and instead they mostly chatted at him rather than with him. Telling him various things they'd done over the summer and giving him updates on the tasks he'd assigned them. By the time he was fixing his third plate though, someone finally had a question for him.
"Hey, Hydrus," Daphne started. "Where are Crabbe and Goyle?"
"Durmstrang," he answered with a whole roll between his teeth as he took a bite out of it. "I had them transferred over there. It's a better fit for them."
"Wait, what?" Draco was looking at him like he'd grown a second head. "Why?" Hydrus continued to chew his bite of bread, just staring down the blonde. "I mean, why is Durmstrang a better fit for them?"
Hydrus swallowed. "They aren't much for book smarts. Durmstrang's more practical course-work will do them better in the long run. I have plans for them."
Ignoring the shock and awe his classmates were giving him now, Hydrus continued to eat. He wondered how many of them were suddenly worrying that he'd put in a word to have them transferred next. Draco, Tamina, and Hellena all probably thought they were safe, but Daphne and Pansy might be getting paranoid, and Michael was too much of a worrier to not be overthinking the situation now.
Luckily for all of them, he really did just think the harsher school would suit the two boys better.
A tinking of silverware on glass caught the whole student body's attention.
"Good evening, everyone!" Dumbledore all but bellowed. "And welcome home. It seems no amount of time is too short for some sort of chaos to break free here at Hogwarts."
A low rumble of chuckles rang out, with quite a few people holding back on account of only recently-healed injuries.
"I would like to offer the most sincere and heartfelt of apologies for what happened with the transportation to the castle grounds this year, and assure you all we will be doing everything necessary to ensure it never happens again," Dumbledore continued. "We shall be announcing what the issue was as soon as we know for certain, but in the meantime, shall we find out where all of our newest family members are going to be staying?"
Hydrus leaned over to Draco as the sorting ceremony began. "Anyone to look out for this year?"
The blonde shrugged. "No more so than last year."
"How dare you," Hydrus said with mock hurt, holding his hand over his chest. "I was a part of last year's class!"
Draco rolled his eyes and began to applaud as the very first student was sorted into their house. Hydrus joined him but came to a slow stop when the girl stopped directly in front of him.
"H-, Hello." The eleven year old gave a clumsy bow as she held out her hand. "Isabella Avery, it's an honour to meet you, Heir Black."
"Ah… Yeah." He took the girl's hand and gave it a short shake. "It's good to meet you too, kiddo. Go sit down."
After practically shooing the nervous child away, he did a double take when he realised Draco was smirking at him.
"What?"
"You do realise," his friend started. "Now that she's done that, the rest of them will have to, too, right?"
He narrowed his eyes at the teen. "You're lucky I don't believe in killing the messenger."
Just like Draco predicted, every student that got sorted into their house stopped to say hello and pay respects to Hydrus. When they got through roughly half the incoming students he nearly got up to leave, but the next name called stopped him half way out of his seat.
"Regina Lestrange!"
He settled back down, an idea suddenly forming in his mind. He still hadn't come up with a good way to bankrupt the Lestranges, but maybe there was another way to ruin them. The girl who took the seat next only had the hat on her head for half a second before it shouted 'Slytherin', and Hydrus nodded.
At the very least, it would be a fun plan.
When the girl stopped to shake his hand, he pulled her in close and whispered in her ear. "I was hoping you'd get sorted into my house, Lestrange."
The other Slytherins around him had tensed up, and he could feel the temperature fall away from the girl's suddenly clammy palm.
"You see my god-sister down there?" He turned and nodded at Dahlia Potter who, along with the rest of their house, was staring at him. "Black hair, green eyes? Go sit down next to her, and tell her I said she has to look out for you, understand me?"
"Y-, Yes, sir," the first year squeaked. "But, um, why?"
"Don't worry about it." He released her and she almost fell backwards at the sudden freedom. "Go on."
As she walked away, still shooting glances back and forth from him to Dahlia, Draco grabbed his shoulder and leaned in close. "What was that about?"
"Don't worry about it," Hydrus repeated. "Just make sure to look out for her like you did Potter, got it?"
"If you say so…"
The rest of the sorting came and went without any further incidents. Only a few more kids joined Slytherin, maintaining their position as the least populated of the four houses, and each shook his hand before sitting down with the other first years aside from the Lestrange girl. Before too long Dumbledore stood once more.
"I hope each and every one of you loves your new friends as much as I loved mine when I was your age," the ancient warlock said. "Now, allow me to make a few announcements.
"First are the usual ones. The list of contraband that you can be punished for having in your possession has been updated and can be found on Mr. Filch's door." Hydrus wondered how many of his own investments were already on the list. "And, as you can very well imagine, the Forbidden Forest is still forbidden."
A pair of loud, obnoxious boos came from the Gryffindor tables' seventh year section.
"On to more titillating news," Dumbledore continued. "It is my utmost pride and pleasure to introduce to you all your new, more permanent teacher for the Defence Against the Dark Arts: Remus Lupin!"
Hydrus stood without hesitation, placed the fingers of his one hand in his mouth, then began to whistle in celebration as applause broke out. Taking his lead, the rest of Slytherin rose as well and began to clap and cheer. Gryffindor did the same, and it led to a load of confused and half-standing half-sitting Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws trying to decide if they were supposed to know who the man was.
It brought a uncontrollable smile to Hydrus's face to see his former advisor actually blush.
"Thank you, Albus," Remus said, clearing his throat. "And it's a pleasure to meet you all, even if you have left me severely confused as to why you're all cheering for me."
A voice, Hydrus's own former voice, called out: "It's cus you have a nice bum!"
Hydrus couldn't stop himself from laughing along with the majority of the school at his younger self's call, even as Remus rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"Congratulations, Mr. Potter," the werewolf said. "You'll be my very first detention, tomorrow evening, straight after your last class."
"Worth it!"
A much more subdued round of laughter rippled through the crowd and again Remus was just left shaking his head.
"As I was saying, I wish to be open and honest with you all, so it is with…" The man took what Hydrus recognised was a steadying breath. "With great pride, that I tell you all, that I am the very first werewolf to hold a position of gainful employment within Hogwarts' halls."
Hydrus had planned to take the measure of the room at that announcement, but was too shocked at the sight of Draco standing just like he had before and applauding once again. The other Slytherins rose in time with Hydrus, though not nearly as caught off guard as he himself was to be playing second fiddle, and for the second time in less than a minute his former advisor was on the receiving end of an uproarious round of applause and cheers.
This one took a good bit longer to die out. Even as Remus held up his hands and pushed them down in a 'settle' gesture, the voices and clapping only grew louder. It wasn't until the man shook his head and subtly wiped at his eyes that things relaxed. Hydrus's old friend cleared his throat.
"Thank you all very much for such a warm welcome." He gave a hard sniff. "And I promise, regardless of who I am, you will always receive the highest quality of education. A few days each month you'll have a substitute teacher whom I have worked extensively with, none other than your former professor, Bellatrix Black."
A surprised, pleased round of cheers rang out, even as Hydrus blinked in surprise.
'That… Beautiful, cunning, very warm bitch,' he thought, unable to truly be mad at his love. 'She didn't even tell me.'
"If you'll allow me to be a bit braggadocios so as to settle any concerns over my qualifications, I'm proud to say that I am one of the very few people in the entire world who can claim to have trained a winning Triwizard Champion." Hydrus snorted and nodded as stares turned his way. "I've also been hired no less than three dozen times by the DMLE to assist aurors in their investigations of illegal and illicit activities. I have sparred with both the Black Sheep and Lord Potter themselves, I have come across all manner of dark beings in my walk of life, and I would not have taken this job if I did not believe I was one-hundred percent capable of teaching you all more than you need to know.
"I am so confident in my abilities, in fact, that I will also be taking over for Ms. Black as the staff advisor for the Study Club." He nodded at Hydrus. "Our first meeting will be one week from now, and for those who feel they can assist in teaching others, the open tutor positions will be listed in my classroom. Thank you."
A much more standard and polite round of applause broke out as Remus returned to his seat and Dumbledore stood once more.
"Thank you, Remus," the headmaster said. "And to all of my students, whether you are returning for yet another year with us or being welcomed for the very first time, I have just one last thing I wouldn't forgive myself for forgetting to say." He took a deep, deep breath. "Codswallop!"
Hydrus snorted and shook his head. "Never gets tired of that one, does he."
BBaRtS
Chapter 60, another 11k words or so.
We're FINALLY back at Hogwarts, and there's a lot of shit going on in this chapter. I feel like the pacing is a bit weird in this one, but it's also intentional in some places. Like, I enjoy that Death blew the dust off a respected and dangerous and vile wizard, literally an unliving legend, only for Hydrus and Apophis to swat him like a fly. I've put Hydrus in a few situations like at Gringotts or the third trial to show that, yeah he's tonka tough, but he's also definitely not invincible. This time I wanted to do the opposite. I wanted to show that if you come at him for the straight up 1v1 it will NOT go well, no matter who the opponent is.
We also got to see Hydrus putting his medical skills to good use, a little bit of a hint at something yet to come with thestrals, the beginnings of a beautiful plan for revenge against the Lestranges, some Draco/Luna fluff, Crabbe and Goyle have been taken out of the picture for some reason, further teasing exploration of the Herschels, Apophis continuing to expand, and more.
I hope people don't mind the fact that I said Hydrus was giving people jobs/duties without me having explicitly written it. I did have Dahlia say that 'everyone' was writing to him, and I did say he was busier than ever during the summer, but it still might be a bit of a disconnect. Who knows.
Anyways, on to reviews!
"[Gregory] has become the most intriguing person in your story at this point." - I just can't wait to start dropping some bombshells about him. Y'all have no idea.
"How is Draco going to take care of a baby elf at Hogwarts?" - We'll definitely be getting a look at this next chapter, with just a temporary situation being mentioned in this one.
"I genuinely laughed when a God stole Bella's kill and her swearing at them. One of the few times her actions make sense but she just looks even crazier to everyone else." - The extra bit of fridge humour to this is that both Death and Magic know that Apophis can speak to the dead anyways, so whoever it was that killed the assassin, it wasn't at all to silence him. It really was 100% just one of them stealing the satisfaction from her lolol
"Your little additions to the world (like Werewolf super strength and durability) feel genuine, unobtrusive, and most importantly you trust your readers enough to allow them to just be." - I worry a bit some people might not like little lore additions like that or what I've done with vampires, but at the same time, it's something that makes the characters more fun to write. It lets me give Remus his Bad Ass TM moment or lets me have people brutally torture the bratty vampire heiress without consequence, and I just love those scenes. I'm glad you like them too!
"seeing these fundamentally solid characters *improve* (like Draco laughing when asked why he's 'Darkening hydrus' doorstep) is like seeing your students or children succeed at life." - This is a fun thing to do too, but I also like getting to go in the opposite direction. Like, I feel like James Potter is a bit of a 'paragon' character in cannon, or at least he was as an adult. Obviously we primarily get 'biased' sources on what he was like, but I wanted to avoid just making him the noble hero. Instead we have him taking advantage of the fact that he knows he's untouchable at work now and things like that. He didn't grow up into a war against people like the woman he loved, so he's still got some of the immature traits that made him so despicable to Snape when they were kids, like a dash of narcissism and a pinch of a cruel streak. Still a good guy, just a few more sharp edges to him than what we saw in cannon (again, as an adult.)
"the amount that you have written in such a short time is staggering indeed" - The wheels keep on tuuuuurrniiiiing~
"For some reason the Sirius, Amelia, Tonks interaction seemed a bit contrived/ forced" - That section could definitely have suffered from two things; one being that I was trying to find ways to make sure everyone in the family got seen in the anniversary chapter, the other being that it was a sort of 'bookend' to Sirius and Amelia's relationship drama. Obviously they'd made up in the dungeon, but this was the 'no but really, they gucci now' fluff moment, and maybe that just wasn't needed.
And that's all! Thank you all so much for continuing to keep up with this fic, for all the reviews and comments, and more. Love you all, see you all next weekend, lessthanthree!
